The former Wolves winger is the latest guest on the Old Gold Club’s My Golden Game podcast, as he joins Mikey Burrows to discuss one his and Wolves’ finest performances from that title-winning campaign.
With Wolves having gone the first three matches of the season unbeaten, Kightly scored twice as Mick McCarthy’s men went on to beat Nottingham Forest 5-1 at a jubilant Molineux, and from that moment on, the side didn’t look back.
On having the belief to become champions
“I would say it was one of my finest performances and probably one of the best performances from a team point of view that season – the season that we went on to get promoted in. I think that was the game when we felt that we are title contenders.
“We had just blown away Forest in the way that we did, and I think that game gave us the belief and the confidence to think that we can win this league now.
“I scored two decent goals myself that day, but I thought it was an outstanding performance from everyone, which is not something you usually get. You’d normally get six or seven players playing well in the game, but it was literally everyone – except the keeper, because he didn’t have much to do!”
On a settled starting line-up
“Nine times out of ten, it was going to be that 11. David Edwards would come in every now and again, but ‘Sylv’ [Sylvan Ebanks-Blake] and [Chris] Iwelumo were the focal points for us. You had Vokesy [Sam Vokes] and [Andy] Keogh who would come on to help out, but they were the two that were starting.
“You then had me and Jarvo [Matt Jarvis], with Karl Henry and David Jones in centre-midfield, but that was Wardy’s [Stephen Ward] first game at left-back. He’d come as a striker and then stepped in at left-wing when Jarvo was injured the season before.
“Unfortunately [George] Elokobi had done his cruciate away at Ipswich [the previous game], and Wardy stepped in at left-back, but he went on the have a really good career, playing for his country and getting a few promotions himself, and playing Premier League football at left back, so it was a mad time for him going from a striker to a left-back, but it was the start of something great, not only for him but for us as a team.”
On taking 4-0 lead into the break
“It was mad. I remember going in at half-time and we had literally blitz Forest for 45 minutes, I don’t think they hardly had a shot on target and we just battered them really.
“We walked in and sat down, and you have those couple of minutes where you sort yourself out and wait for the manager to come in and give you a team talk, but we just looked at each other and started laughing.
“It was one of those weird experiences when you thought, ‘That’s just clicked there for 45 minutes’, and we all just started cracking up. Mick came in and just went, ‘More of the same lads, just crack on.’
“There was not too much he could say, because it was pretty much a perfect performance in that first-half.”
On scoring in either half
“Just before I scored, from near enough the same position, I pinged one off the bar, but luckily, I got another opportunity and I thought I’d have another shot.
“It went in the top corner, so I thought it was nice to see – as I only normally score tap-ins! But my second one wasn’t too bad either to the fair.
“I remember my second goal and I celebrated right over to where my mates were, who had come up from Essex, and it was quite a good moment because, without even saying anything, we all knew we were going to have a good night out that evening.
“We were buzzing about the whole weekend in general, so to finish it off with a good win, scoring two goals, it was a great day and a great weekend, because we definitely celebrated after.”
On gaining confidence from scoring
“When I scored in a game, I felt like I had grown a foot taller and I felt a lot more confident, I wouldn’t think about my game as much as I would just do things naturally. I felt like that when I scored my first goal away at QPR, and it made me more confident to try things in games.
“In this game, it was not only that we had played well in the first-half, but in the second-half, we had that confidence to try things. Rather than crossing, I thought I would cut in and take one on, and I was able to put one in the top corner with my left foot.
“It was a nice goal, and I think the fact that we were 4-1 up, I’d earnt the right to try that.”
